Gamification on the Rise in Marketing and Online Video

Gamification is showing tremendous growth, and is being welcomed with open arms after demonstrating success for early adopters in various industries for its role in the discovery of new products and services. In fact, 40% of adults in the U.S that are active online have expressed interest in seeking new ways to entertain themselves with gaming elements. It is additionally showing increasing popularity in online video as advertisers embrace the trend.

For example, the marketing manager for the Ford Fusion, Samantha Hoyt, decided to go this route for their Fusion commercial, because they wanted to have an exciting and interactive way to build anticipation leading up to the reveal of the all-new Fusion.

Kit Digital couldn’t agree more on the excitement that ties in with gamification; the KIT Cloud Social platform has gamification aspects built in, much to the liking of our users. Gamification is not only a way to attract users, but it is also a delightful add-on which helps retain them, such as the case of Samsung when they saw a 500% increase in customers product reviews after pairing a gamification platform with their own technologies. Social sharing increased 200%, and user-generated content increased by an average 50%.

Online video services already picked up on the social aspect of gamification. For example, LeanIn allows viewers to interact with each other based on their thoughts on different segments of videos, which they insert into the video itself. Christophor Rick of ReelSEO claims that gamification of online video is going to be the next big thing in online marketing and advertising. This is because gaming elements allow consumers and users to interact with the brand, compete with others, connect with their social networks, and control what they are experiencing.

According to Business2Community, gamification is built around the concept of loyalty, but the use of game mechanics alone won’t guarantee loyalty- it must be a comprehensive approach that involves social sharing. If you build a gamification model that’s intrinsically social, you’ll keep your current users engaged and loyal while drawing new visitors to your site. Companies are increasingly adopting, and open to adopting this technology, especially when they notice the gamified advertising campaigns of other companies going viral.

Badges, countdown clocks, virtual ranking, points, avatars- these are amongst dozens other gaming mechanics being used in websites worldwide, and help make business boom through a strong psychological influence. At this rate, according to gaming and technology researchers, M2 Research, industry revenues will total $1.6 billion by 2015, up from less than $100 million last year. KIT Digital is proud to have implemented this technology while it was still merely a buzzword, and the response from our users has been positive.

Which site/service would you have normally found mundane, if it weren’t for the gamification aspects they made use of?

About Farhana Rahman

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